


A New Kind of Tournament

by PsychicGirl



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, 幽☆遊☆白書 | YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files
Genre: Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Crossover, Gen, Post-Anime, Triwizard Tournament
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-09
Updated: 2015-04-21
Packaged: 2018-02-04 01:27:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1761795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychicGirl/pseuds/PsychicGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three schools arrive at Hogwarts to compete in a deadly tournament that hasn't been hosted in centuries. But why does Harry keep getting a sense of danger from the Japanese school? And will Harry survive the Tasks himself? YYH/HP crossover because Yu Yu Hakusho needs another deadly tournament</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> I know the YuYu Hakusho fan-base is pretty much non-existent over here, but I'm posting this over here anyway. I started posting over at fanfiction.net, and it is still a work in progress, but I figured this site might give me extra feedback and I need all the reactions I can get right now.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or Harry Potter. I wouldn't want to. I love the characters the owners created and I simply want to play with them for a while.

Chapter 1

"So when do you think the other schools will arrive?" a red-headed boy asked his friends.

"Honestly, Ron," replied the girl standing next to him, "have patience. Dumbledore said they would be arriving shortly. I can't imagine that transporting an entire school to an obscure part of Scotland would be easy."

"But, Hermione," whined Ron, "I'm cold. And the feast was delayed."

"Hermione's right," said another of Ron's friends, this one being a boy with black hair and a lightning-shaped scar. "They will be here soon, and then we can go inside and eat."

Ron sighed. "I guess you're right, Harry- hey! What's that in the lake?"

The rest of the crowd standing outside started to shout too, as a giant ship arose from the center of the lake.

"Won't they get attacked by a giant squid?" a boy asked.

"No, stupid. I'm sure if they were going to, it would have already happened by now." replied a young girl.

The ship finally emerged in its entirety and a dozen students found their way to land led by a tall man with graying hair and a beard to match. "Oh! Wow, Harry. It's Victor Krum!" exclaimed Ron, pointing to a particularly bored-looking student.

"Boys," sighed Hermione, "I will never understand your fascination with all things Qudditch."

Harry gave her an incredulous look. "Come on, Hermione. You saw him at the World Cup. Even you have to admit that he was amazing."

Hermione was saved from having to defend herself when the bearded man approached the crowd.

"Dumbledore!" the man exclaimed as he approached the headmaster of Hogwarts.

"Karkaroff," Dumbledore returned. "How are you, my friend?"

"I am well, Dumbledore and I hope you have a good feast prepared as my students are in need of good nourishment after our long journey."

"Certainly. Just as soon as the other schools arrive. Ah! I think that Beauxbatons is coming in now." Dumbledore said as he turned to look toward the skies. Sure enough, a large shape was quickly approaching the grounds.

"What's that?" Hermione asked. "It looks like some kind of...floating house."

She wasn't too far off as, pulled by several gigantic palominos, a powder-blue carriage landed roughly on the grass, sending several students and teachers scattering for cover. However, what really stunned the crowd was the person getting out of the compartment. Stepping down from the horse-drawn monstrosity was the biggest woman Harry and his friends have ever seen.

Ron nudged his friends."Blimey Harry, I didn't think they made people that big after Hagrid."

"Ron, don't be insensitive!" hissed Hermione, shooting him a scathing look.

"Dumbly-dore!" the woman said with a heavy French accent. Her students, all of whom seemed to be female, had finally exited the compartment and were shivering while huddled close together behind their headmistress.

"Ah. Madame Maxime. You are looking lovely as always." Dumbledore said cheerfully.

"As are you Dumbly-dore," said the giant woman as she moved to embrace the headmaster. "My girls are very cold and hungry. May we please go into the castle now?"

"Not quite yet, Madame. Another school has yet to arrive." A wave of confusion washed over the crowd.

"Another school?" wondered Hermione.

Karkaroff stepped forward. "What is the meaning of this, Albus? I was told there were only three competing schools."

Dumbledore just smiled. "Yes, well, the last school was a bit of a last minute addition. However, I am well acquainted with the headmistress and she assured me that her students would make an interesting addition in this competition, especially considering they specialize in wandless magic."

Everyone was shocked. A school that specialized in wandless magic? That wasn't possible. Wandless magic could only be mastered after years of study and training and certainly couldn't be taught to children who hadn't yet mastered the use of a wand.

"Hey! Look up there!" A loud screech shattered the confused chatter of the gathered schools.

"Whoa! What is that?" Ron asked.

"This must be the last school." Dumbledore said. The shape in the sky was even more massive than the powder-blue carriage and it was an even deeper blue in color. It also appeared to be one gigantic living creature.

"Look out!"

People scrambled out of the way as the thing finally landed revealing itself to be a huge blue bird with a thick black mane. Three people were waving at them from on top of the bird, further stunning the crowd. People were actually riding that thing?

The first to jump off the blue beast was a boy with the longest wild black hair anyone had seen that ran down to his waist. He probably would have been mistaken for a girl if it wasn't for the fact that he was extremely muscular and had a type of cocky arrogance that couldn't be anything other than male. He shouted something in a decidedly Asian language at the people remaining on the bird and received a shout of annoyance back.

The source of the annoyed reply slid down to the ground and then moved to help the last person off the bird. The first was a fairly unattractive male with bright orange hair and a thug-like appearance. However, he confused his image when he carefully escorted the last member of the weird crew gently down, revealing a beautiful young lady with mint-green hair and red eyes.

"That can't be natural," mumbled Hermione, annoyed by the fact that the green-haired girl was gaining more male attention than the French girls even managed to attract.

A wave of cold wind rushed over the grounds and two more people appeared out of nowhere. The first was a young man who seemed to arrive in a flurry of snow that was out of character for this early in the year, and the second floated on a gust of wind and remained hovering with his legs crossed to the crowd’s continued amazement. Was there no end to these impressive displays of power?

Another two people materialized, and yes, materialized was the word for one minute there was no one there and the next there was a short man with tall black hair - and was that a sword?- and an elderly woman with faded pink hair.

"Genkai!" exclaimed Dumbledore, which was apparently the elderly woman's name as she stepped forward and tilted her head in acknowledgement.

"That was quite the exciting entrance. Are these all of your students?"

Genkai shook her head. "No. There are three more, but I can feel them coming now."

Harry looked confused. What did she mean by 'feel them?' Just then, there was a crashing sound from the forest and three students emerged...covered in guts?

"Sorry, Master Genkai," said one of the splattered students with red hair, although there was a possibility that the color could just be from the blood drenching the newcomers.

"We ran into a bit of spider trouble."

"Trouble?" laughed another equally messy student, although he looked much too old to still be in school, "More like a right good warm-up, that was. Much better welcome that I expected."

"Yeah," exclaimed the final student who looked to be a small child and was clinging to the too-old student's back. "That was tons of fun! Chuu smashed dozens of those things!"

"Hn." This sound came from the short boy with the tall hair. "I'm assuming you left a few for the rest of us to play with?"

"Naturally." replied the red-haired (?) one with a smirk.

Genkai snorted. "If you idiots are done having fun, I'm sure some of us would like to go inside and eat." She then turned back to Dumbledore. "Albus, these are my students. The one with the long black hair is my apprentice, Yusuke. The giant blue bird is his. The orange-haired fool is Kuwabara and the girl next to him is Yukina. The icy boy with green-hair is Touya and the floating one is Jin. Hiei is the midget next to me. The splattered ones are Kurama, with the red-hair and Rinku, the child. The one he is clinging to is Chuu, our team sponsor."

The boy now identified as Yusuke laughed. "Ha! More like Chuu needs a sponsor!"

Chuu growled. "Oi! What was that? Come over here and say that to my face! I'll make you regret it!"

"Yeah, you and what alcohol?" Yusuke spat back.

"Why you!"

Both bickering boys were sent flying as Genkai kicked them both in a move that most of the audience had trouble following.

"Hey, idiots! Knock it off! You can kill each other later. You are holding up the feast with your pointless whining."

"Yeah, yeah." grumbled Yusuke. "Let's just go inside already."

"An excellent decision, my dear boy." Dumbledore chuckled. He turned to the three gore-covered boys and pointed his wand at them. Immediately, every single one of the strange students tensed as if prepared for an attack.

"Relax," placated Dumbledore. "I'm merely going to clean them up." With a wave of the headmaster's wand, the boys were cleaned, leaving no evidence of the earlier carnage.

"Now, let us all proceed to the Great Hall for the welcome feast!" With a dramatic swirl of robes, Dumbledore started to make his way inside leaving a confused and awe-struck crowd to catch up.


	2. The Goblet of Fire

Chapter 2

Hermione, Harry, and Ron trudged after the rest of the crowd toward the school, deep in discussion about what they just witnessed. The other schools had long since entered the castle and the trio was dragging further and further behind in an effort to remain unheard by eavesdroppers.

"Did you see the way most of them just appeared out of thin air?" Hermione asked the two boys. "There is no possible way to apparate on the grounds, so how did they get here so fast? And how can the group be so casual about several of their schoolmates showing up covered in blood? They acted like it was a normal occurrence!" Her head was still spinning with the seemingly impossible behavior from the last foreign school.

Ron snorted, "Did you hear how that Hiei kid asked if there was any left to play with? He's bloody mad if he thinks what they were doing was playing. More like fighting for their life. I mean, they said they ran into spiders." Ron shuddered, clearly recalling when he and Harry had run into the Forbidden Forest's version of arachnids.

"Guys, I think that group might be dangerous," Harry finally spoke.

"What makes you say that?" Ron asked, shooting his friend a concerned look. Harry usually had a good sense of danger, especially when it concerned You-Know-Who.

"I dunno. It's just a feeling I got from them, especially from the one with long black hair. Like an intense power waiting to escape."

"But," Hermione started in a low voice, eyes darting around for any possible listeners, "your scar doesn't hurt does it?"

"No. It's not that." Harry said, rubbing his forehead self-consciously, "But I do feel something. It's like my hair stands on end and I get the strong urge to run away."

"You would do well to heed that warning."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione shrieked and spun around to face a very amused-looking Genkai.

"Blimey," breathed Ron, "Where did you come from?"

"From behind you." Genkai replied. "Now hurry up. The feast has already begun and you three are the only ones not in the Great Hall."

The three teens glanced around to find that indeed they were the only ones still left on the grounds. Hermione turned to apologize. "Sorry, Professor Genkai. We were just-" Genkai was gone.

"Umm, guys," Harry said, "Did you see her leave?"

"Nope." Ron replied.

"I'm definitely checking the library about this." Hermione chimed in. The two boys groaned.

* * *

Inside the castle, the feast was well underway.

Each visiting school had picked a house to sit with for the duration of their stay. They would also be staying in that house's dorm at night.

Durmstrang had picked Slytherin and Beauxbatons had fluttered over to the Ravenclaw house, leaving the Japanese students to decide between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.After much discussion it was agreed that they would go with Gryffindor. Sort of.

Actually, while everyone else was bickering about it, Hiei glanced at the Hufflepuffs' welcoming faces and kind eyes and immediately walked to the Gryffindor table, leaving everyone else to follow.

Eventually, the foreigners all settled at their chosen house tables and were enjoying a good meal while getting to know some of the Hogwarts students. Currently, Kuwabara was trying to find out more about the wizarding world, much to the amusement of the rest of his group.

"So, what's with all the moving pictures and floating stuff everywhere?" asked Kuwabara asked to a mischievous pair of red-headed twins. "Doesn't that kind of freak people out when they visit?"

"Well, yeah at first," replied on twin whose name was either Fred or George.

"But only if they were raised by muggles," added the second brother.

"Umm, what's a muggle?" Kuwabara asked. "Is that some kind of coffee cup or something?"

Yusuke, who was listening in on the conversation, laughed. "No, stupid. It's obviously a type of lifestyle. Like Vegetarian or Pacifist."

"Nuh-uh. You're the idiot, Urameshi. Pacifiers don't count as a type of lifestyle! Well, unless we are talking about Koenma. But even then, why would that matter?"

"Pacifist, dumbass, not Pacifier!" Yusuke shouted back.

"I'll show you Pacifist!" Kuwabara yelled as he jumped up from the table and launched himself at Yusuke and started wrestling with him between the house tables.

A few feet away Kurama sighed. He was having an informative conversation with a Ms. Angelina Johnson on a sport called Quidditch. "Hiei." he said.

"Hn."

Meanwhile, Yusuke and Kuwabara were still at it and it was starting to draw attention from the teachers as well as the students. However, before an adult could intervene, there was a blur of black and the two brawling teens found themselves being restrained by a short angry-looking boy with tall hair.

"Fools," said Hiei. "Sit down. You are attracting attention."

Yusuke and Kuwabara finally glanced around and realized that they had indeed attracted the gaze of most of the Great Hall, and it was not the positive kind of attention if the scowls from a few of the professors were any indication.

Yusuke rubbed his neck. "Sorry, Hiei. I guess I forgot where we were."

"Yeah, sorry Hiei." Kuwabara said guiltily.

"See that it doesn't happen again." Hiei turned and walked toward where Yusuke and Kuwabara were sitting and took a seat as well, most likely to keep an eye out for any further violence. Somehow, this was seen as an invitation for the rest of the team to congregate in that area because soon, all the remaining seats around him were taken up by the Spirit world team.

Yusuke sighed and walked back to finish the conversation he and Kuwabara were having with the twins. Urameshi addressed Fred and George, "Sorry about that. Kuwabara and I needed to have a discussion about some things."

Both brothers stared at him incredulously. "If that's your idea of a discussion," stated one, "then I don't want to see you get into an argument."

"No. You don't," said Chuu, who refused to go sit with the rest of the adults because 'they didn't have booze either so why would he go sit with a bunch of stuffy teachers when all the fun's with Urameshi.'

"Yeah." said Jin. "His idea of a fight may be fun, but the stakes are a might too high for you lot."

"Umm. Ok, then," Fred said.

"We'll take your word for it." said George.

Touya snorted. These humans had no idea what a real fight was like. A pity. It seemed as though it was going to be tough to get a work-out this year. Maybe Kurama or Jin would spar with him later.

"So, what were you talking about before the fight broke out?" Kurama asked the twins, who were still trying to process what they just witnessed.

"Oh," said George. "We were just telling...Um..."

"Kuwabara," Fred supplied helpfully.

"Right. Thank you, brother."

"No problem, brother. Anyway, we were just telling Kuwabara that the moving pictures only freak out people that were raised by muggles." Fred continued.

"Which are non-magical people," George finished.

Yusuke chuckled. "Guess I was closer in my guess than Kuwabara was."

"Shut up, Urameshi."

Hiei slammed their heads into the table. "Both of you, be quiet."

"I see," said Kurama attempting to draw the attention back to the conversation and away from the two teenagers who were now mumbling curses and glaring at the smug fire demon. "So, I would be one of the only ones in this group."

"Really?" the twins echoed.

"Yes. Well, Kuwabara could be considered this also. And Yusuke. However, Yusuke can hardly be considered raised by anyone except perhaps Genkai."

Yusuke smirked. He had long since come to terms with his messed up childhood.

Kurama continued, "And everyone else either had no parents or grew up in a magical environment." He left out the fact that the magical environment was not, of course, a community of wizards and witches. Instead it referred to either Spirit World or the Makai, also known as the 'Demon World.'

"Wow." said George. "Having no family must suck."

Yukina spoke up, having been listening with quiet interest up until this point, "Not really. Genkai has given us all a place to come back to. She is a very kind and generous woman. And we all consider each other to be a type of family."

The rest of the Japanese students all nodded in agreement. Their family was a type of mutual respect and understanding rather than one of blood. Hell, most of them weren't even the same species, let alone the same bloodline.

Yusuke looked out around the Hall. "Speaking of which, where is grandma? She's not with the rest of the teachers."

"Hey," said Fred, "Harry, Ron and Hermione aren't back either."

"Who are they?" wondered Rinku as he idly played with one of his yo-yo's.

"Oh them. They are famous." George said.

Fred snorted, "More like infamous."

"They manage to get into more trouble than we do."

"And we actually try!" the twins said in sync.

"Anyway," Fred continued, "Ron is our younger brother. He is best friends with Harry Potter-"

"You know, the boy-who-lived-"

The foreigners didn't know, but they figured they would find out eventually.

"Yeah, him, and then there's Hermione who is one of the smartest girls in the whole school."

"One of?" George scoffed. "She is the smartest. Even smarter than the Ravenclaws."

Just then, the doors banged open to reveal the three children in question. They slowly made their way over to the Gryffindor table, pointedly ignoring the many stares from curious students.

The twins, seeing their chance to ruffle their little brother and his friends, jumped up from their seats to grab the trio and lead them over to when the Spirit World team had gathered.

Meanwhile, Kuwabara was laughing as Yusuke was trying unsuccessfully to keep his long mane of hair from dragging in his food.

"Ugh." whined Yusuke, "remind me again why the hell I decided to keep my hair this long?"

Kuwabara shrugged. "I just figured you were too lazy to cut it."

Yusuke grunted in response. That was indeed part of the reason. However, there was also a more practical explanation.

As Genkai had once put it: 'If you can't do simple everyday tasks without your hair getting in the way, how in the hell do you expect to fight without accidentally strangling yourself?' She then proceeded to launch a series of attacks at him to prove exactly why he needed to adapt to his demon form's extreme hair-growth. There may have been hair pulling involved.

Wincing at the memory, Yusuke decided to focus on the three teens that had approached the Japanese group.

"Yo," Yusuke greeted.

The black-haired one, Harry, stared at him with wide eye and not a small amount of confusion.

"Hello," he mumbled back. Another weird look was directed at the foreigners, almost as if Harry was looking through them instead of at them.

"Umm, is there something on my face? Because if there is, it's probably Kuwabara's fault."

"Hey!"

Harry blinked dazedly. "Er, no. It's just that you guys feel...different."

The entirety of the Spirit World team stiffened. Surely the boy couldn't feel their demon energy, could he?

The group was saved from responding as a hush descended in the Hall and Dumbledore rose to his feet. "Welcome, guests and students. Now that we are all fed and properly acquainted, I would like to make some formal introductions. I would ask you all to give a warm welcome to Madame Maxime and her students from Beauxbatons Academy in France." Dumbledore gestured to the large woman sitting a few seats away from him.A round of applause broke out, especially from the male population.

"And Mr. Karkaroff and his students from Durmstrang Academy." The man with the graying beard gave a stiff nod. Another round of applause this time more concentrated in the female population along with a few fan-girlish shrieks ('Victor Krum! Oh my gosh, do you think he will sign my broom?')

"And finally, Master Genkai and her pupils from the Rekai School of Magic and Martial Arts in Japan." The applause that followed was much louder than the previous rounds as everyone was still excited over the school's amazing entrances.

'A martial arts school? Why would a martial arts school study magic?' wondered Hermione.

When the clapping had finally ceased, Dumbledore spoke again, "Now then, I'm sure you are all excited to know how the Tournament Champions are being chosen. This," Dumbledore swished his hand as a beautiful glowing goblet with blue fire appeared in front of him, "is the Goblet of Fire."

Hiei snorted. 'Humans come up with the most creative names.'

"Only students who are 17 years or older may compete. This tournament is not for the faint of heart. All those who wish to be chosen should write their name on a piece of paper and throw it into the Goblet. You will have until midnight tomorrow to submit your names. The Champions shall be announced in two day’s time. Good night to all and...Good luck." Dumbledore stood and left the Great Hall, leaving the goblet to glow invitingly inside a ring of magic that appeared as the headmaster departed.

"Alright." said Yusuke, rubbing his hands together. "Who all is going to enter their name in the 'gobble-thingy?'"

Kurama cleared his throat. "It's a goblet, Yusuke, and I will enter my name. I'm assuming you, Hiei and Kuwabara will as well."

"Yup." Yusuke nodded and turned toward the remaining members of Team Rekai. "What about you guys? Jin, Touya. Are you going to enter?"

"Of course," spoke Touya as the room dropped a few degrees in temperature. "You didn't honestly think I would pass up on an opportunity to win, did you?"

Jin laughed and an invisible breeze ruffled his hair. "You wouldn't be the ice-man I know if you did."

Touya glared at the nickname.

"I'll be enterin' my name o' course," continued Jin. "Wouldn't wanna miss the excitement. I hear there be dragons to fight in one o' the tasks. I hope so. Haven't met a dragon, yet. I hear they got a fierce temper. Now tha' would be a right good match."

It was Hiei's turn to chuckle as he recalled his own experience with the so-called Ice Dragon of Maze Castle. "Trust me, they're overrated."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione just stared at these people as they listened to them discuss who was competing. Were they insane? How could anyone look forward to fighting a dragon? They must have a death wish.

"Alright, Alright. So who else wants to compete." asked Yusuke. "Chuu, you can't because you aren't technically a student." Chuu let out a disappointed sigh. "Rinku, you are too young-"

"I am not!" Rinku protested.

Chuu stepped in before the boy could throw a fit. "Aww, just let them have their fun, lass. There'll be other tournaments to fight in. Promise. After this is over, we can go walk the alleys of London. Then me and you can have all the fights we want."

Rinku pouted and twisted two of his yo-yo's viciously together in a spiral. "I guess."

Yusuke sighed and pushed back his too-long hair out of his face. 'Stupid demon-form with its stupid hair style.' "Ok, so that just leaves Yukina." Yusuke turned to face the koorime. "Are you going to put your name in?"

Hiei tensed in protectiveness, but it was unfounded as Yukina simply shook her head. "No, I don't like to hurt people. You guys can have your fun. Besides, if Kazuma gets chosen, I want to cheer him on."

"Oh, Yukina!" bellowed Kuwabara, causing the surrounding Gryffindors to cringe, "Don't worry, baby. I will get out there and kill a thousand dragons as long as you are watching." The Spirit World team rolled their eyes at the dramatic display, having long grown used to the strange relationship between the red-haired teen and the koorime.

Well, actually that wasn't true. Hiei wasn't used to it, but he tolerated it because his sister seemed to like the oaf and Kuwabara offered his sister further protection than he could provide on his own. Not that he would admit that to anyone. Ever.

Yusuke stood up and stretched. "Alright. Let's go put in our names and get some shut-eye. I have a feeling the old hag is going to want to train extra early tomorrow and I have no desire to get punched out of a tower before breakfast." He turned and stalked off to go submit his name.

Ron turned to the foreigners. "What did he mean 'getting punched out of a tower?'"

Chuu laughed. "Don't worry, lad. He's had a lot worse. His head is hard enough that it probably wouldn't even wake him up." Chuu rose from the table, with Rinku clinging to his shoulders like a monkey, and wandered over to where Urameshi was throwing his paper into the Goblet.

Ron laughed. "He's joking, right?"

The Rekai team glanced at each other and then at the trio of teens. Then they all got up without a word and walked toward the Goblet as well.

Hermione patted Ron on the back. "I'm sure they were kidding. I mean, you wouldn't be human if you could survive a fall like that."

"Yeah," mumbled Harry, staring once again at the Japanese students. 'Not human, indeed.'


	3. The Mission

Chapter 3

Yusuke finally lay spread on his bed in Gryffindor tower after a long day. Jet lag was a bitch.

After the feast, the group had been lead to the Common Room by the house prefects and shown to their rooms. The boys would be getting their own rooms with Hiei, Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara in one room and Chuu, Rinku, Touya, and Jin in another. Yukina would be staying with a few of the younger students because she was the only girl in the bunch. Hiei was concerned, of course, but he would probably end up sleeping in her windowsill at some point anyway since he didn't exactly believe in beds.

As he stared up at the ceiling listening to the other occupants in his room set up defenses for their semi-permanent residence for the next few months, except for Kuwabara who was snoring loudly, Yusuke thought back to how they ended up in this strange culture, in another stupid tournament, the first place:

_Yusuke hopped up the stairs to Genkai's temple, having long since gotten used to the insane amount of stairs._

_Well, hopped isn't the right word. He wasn't joyful or even happy as the word might suggest. He was just bored._

_Ever since he got back from his year-long stint in the Makai, Yusuke hadn't found a single decent opponent. Sure, Kurama and Hiei were good sparring partners, but Hiei had been spending more and more time in the Makai working for Mukuro and Kurama had been focusing more and more on his studies in university._

_Yusuke wasn't exactly "hopping" so much as vibrating with unused energy. It was actually a pretty unpleasant experience._

_He was on his way to Genkai's to see if she had any training he could do that would siphon some of this excess energy off. Otherwise, he might literally explode...which would suck because he had enough energy to vaporize most of the weaker demons just by being in their presence, never mind if he actually exploded and...Ugh! Even Yusuke's thoughts had become hyper-focused and rambling._

_Please, please, please let there be something for him to do!_

_Yusuke stopped in front of the temple long enough to kick off his shoes before throwing open the sliding panel and stopping dead. You know that phrase 'Be careful what you wish for?' He really needed to be more specific in his wishes._

_Koenma stood in the middle of the temple conversing with Genkai in his teenage form which he had taken to permanently residing in after the Sensui disaster. This could only mean one thing: a new mission. Well, he better not stall this longer than he had to._

_"Yo, Koenma. I didn't really think you would be coming to us with another mission after the whole 'my-dad-wants-you-dead-and-you're-a-danger-to-society' incident."_

_Koenma had the decency to at least look a little sheepish at that remark. He cleared his throat, "Yes, well, this is a special kind of mission that I can't send my new detective on."_

_Yusuke surveyed the Jr. God with wary expression. "What kind of 'special?'"_

_Koenma sighed. "For one, it's not in Japan. It's in England."_

_"That's a new one." Yusuke supplied._

_"Yes. And also, it involves undercover work as teenagers."_

_Yusuke scoffed. "And you just happen to think of us as your resident 'Forever Young' dream-team? Sorry, but no thanks." He turned to leave and find something to kill._

_"There's a tournament involved!"_

_Yusuke halted. "Continue."_

_"I've already talked to Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara. They said that they would consider participating." This didn't really mean much seeing as how the two demons and the human followed Yusuke's lead when it came to missions. If Yusuke didn't agree, the three would also back down. They wouldn't admit it, but they respected Yusuke as the leader of their rag-tag group, especially after he came into his demon lord status._

_Yusuke was growing impatient. "Get to the point. Why do you need us and why should I care?"_

_Again Koenma sighed. This mission was starting to seem like a bad idea. "The wizarding world is hosting a tournament that they haven't hosted in several centuries, because it was deemed too dangerous-"_

_"I'm sorry. Did you just say 'wizarding world?'" Yusuke interrupted._

_"Yusuke," Genkai spoke up, "after all you have seen is it really so hard to believe in magic? Now stop being an idiot and let Koenma explain what's going on. Or would you like to go into another mission half-cocked with no idea of what you are doing?"_

_"Thank you Genkai," Koenma nodded. She merely snorted in response. Koenma continued, "As I was saying, the wizarding world has decided to host a deadly tournament after over a century long hiatus._

_"The wizarding world has also been a rather touchy environment in the last fifty years after the rise and fall of someone named Lord Voldemort."_

_This time, both Yusuke and Genkai huffed a small laugh._

_"Lately, the rumors have been saying that this Voldemort is still alive and is plotting to take out the person who almost killed him, who conveniently attends the school that's hosting the tournament._

_"What I need you to do is go in and pose as a school and enter the tournament yourself and investigate the motives behind re-establishing it."_

_"So let me get this straight," Yusuke said, "You want Hiei, Kurama, Kuwabara, and I to go to a magic school in England and pose as students so we can fight in a tournament while also investigating if the tournament has anything to do with this 'Voldemort' person?"_

_"Basically, although only one of you will be selected to fight." Koenma responded._

_"But wait, how are we supposed to be students with only four of us? I mean, I may not have attended school for more than a few days, but I definitely remember there being more than four students per class."_

_As if in an answer to his question, there was a crashing noise and five people tumbled out from a side room and crashed to the floor. One of them looked up from the pile of people._

_"Urameshi!" Yusuke groaned. The mass of people turned out to be Chuu, Rinku, Touya, Jin, and Kuwabara. Kurama and Hiei followed in after them, looking smug._

_Clearly, the group had been trying to eavesdrop on the conversation. Unfortunately, they utterly failed at it._

_"You can't be serious," Yusuke said to Koenma._

_Jin propped himself up on an elbow, still resting on the floor where he had fallen. "Now tha's no way to greet an old friend, Urameshi. Especially one tha's here to lend a helpin' hand."_

_Yusuke rolled his eyes. "You guys just want a chance to fight in another tournament, don't you?"_

_Touya rose gracefully and addressed Yusuke with the calm demeanor that should be present in someone who had just crash-landed in a pile of limbs. "Of course. You aren't the only one that's lamenting the lack of a good opponent."_

_Yusuke couldn't really argue with that._

_A small giggle brought the group's attention to Yukina who had just exited the same room everyone else had tumbled from, carrying a tray of tea for everyone._

_Kuwabara scrambled to his feet. "Oh, Yukina! You didn't have to make us all tea. You are so thoughtful!"_

_Chuu nodded, "Yeah. Thanks, love." Yukina blushed and turned away. Hiei not-so-subtly kicked Chuu in the shin while his sister wasn't looking._

_By this point, everyone had gotten off the floor to congregate around Koenma and Yusuke. The junior god cleared his throat to pull the attention back toward him. "Right, so, now that everyone is officially here, your cover is this: You guys are all students of Genkai at the Reikai School of Magic and Martial Arts."_

_The group, minus Genkai, broke out into laughter at the ridiculous name._

_Koenma glared, "What do you want from me? I needed a cover that would cover your abilities and your fighting habits!"_

_Kurama addressed the god, still chuckling slightly. "Sorry, Koenma. It's just that some of us are still getting used to the idea of having 'magic' let alone the fact that we are supposedly attending a school for it." "_

_Hey!" said Rinku, climbing up to rest on Chuu's back. The little demon preferred to rest on high shelves or other such perches, but when none were available, he settled for riding piggy-back on his best friend. "What about Chuu? Isn't he a little old to be going to school?"_

_Koenma rubbed his neck. "Uh...I'm sure you will think of something." The group glared, but Koenma just pretended to look the other way._

_Genkai coughed, "And how exactly do you expect these dimwits to speak English when most of them haven't even left Japan?" The Makai didn't count in this scenario, because most demons spoke Japanese anyway as Japan had the most weak points in the Kekai barrier between worlds._

_"Oh, right!" said Koenma as he reached into his pocket and drew out several pieces of paper and distributed them out to the gathered fighters. "Here. These are wards that will allow you to speak and understand English. All you have to do is lick it and stick it somewhere on your body, like a temporary tattoo. As long as it stays on your body and doesn't get damaged, you should be able to communicate with the native English speakers. Of course, you can still speak and understand Japanese, but you have to speak with the intention of it being in Japanese, rather than it coming instinctively."_

_Each of the group members took the paper and after much discussion, it was decided that the symbol would go on their chest over their hearts because it was a place that was instinctively protected while still remaining out of sight. The boys applied their wards right away, while Yukina took hers to apply it later in private._

_"Wow," said Yusuke, who was startled at the foreign sounds making their way out of his mouth with seemingly no thought. "Weird," he said in Japanese, reverting to his native tongue after a few attempts._

_Koenma clapped his hands together, "Well, I think I'm done here. I left Genkai with the location of the school. You will be staying on the grounds of the school for the duration of the tournament."_

_Yusuke whistled. "Free room and board? Nice. Reminds me already of good times."_

_Hiei scoffed. The Dark Tournament could hardly be considered good times. "One more thing, Yusuke." He turned toward the half-demon and before Yusuke had time to react, metal cuffs were strapped to his wrists, drawing them together like magnets._

_Yusuke groaned. "Not this again!"_

_"I'm sorry, Yusuke," Koenma said as he knelt down to fasten two more cuffs to the former-detective's ankles, "but you are just too strong to be left unchecked around a school full of children. Besides these are special cuffs. They limit both your demon and spirit energies. With these on, you will only be able to use about 40 percent of your power which is more than enough for this tournament, but not enough to be accidentally lethal."_

_Yusuke glowered at the teenage godling._

_"Don't look at me like that, Yusuke. Out of the group, you are the one with the least amount of control over your energy output."_

_"Obviously," muttered Hiei, earning himself a dirty look from Yusuke._

_Koenma continued, "Now, I've given Genkai the word to release your cuffs, but only after this mission is complete. Let me repeat: Under no circumstance are you to remove these cuffs. The wizarding world remains ignorant about demons and Spirit World needs it to stay that way."_

_"Yeah, yeah." grumbled Yusuke. He understood Koenma's reasoning, but that didn't mean that he had to like it._

_"Alright," Koenma addressed the group, "You will need to be at the school in one week. You may get there however you wish. In fact, I encourage a bit of showing off, as that will be expected from each of the schools, provided that it doesn't hurt any of the students or teachers. If you need me, contact Botan and she will deliver the message to me." With those final words, Koenma vanished, presumably to go hid from the insanely large amount of paperwork that always managed to accumulate while he was away from his office._

_Yusuke and the gang looked at the space where Koenma disappeared and then glanced at each other. Apparently they were going to England for yet another deadly tournament, this time with only one competitor._

_Well, at least they could finally have a decent fight, even if it was only with each other._


	4. Strange Conversations

Chapter 4

The morning after the Goblet of Fire was set up, the students in Gryffindor house were jolted out of their beds just before dawn to a loud commotion.

"Alright, you old hag! I'm up!" A huge crashing sound, followed by cursing.

"Obviously not. Otherwise, I wouldn't have landed that kick so easily!"

"Yeah, well, maybe if you had told me you were going to train today, then I could have been ready."

A slapping sound. "Idiot! You should always be ready for an attack, even in your sleep. God knows how the hell you survived the Makai with that attitude."

"Yeah, well, at least there people respected my power."

A snort of laughter. "Oh, yes. The great king Yusuke. Oh how they tremble at your powers of sheer dumb luck. Now get your butt outside to the forest. You need some training in what true skill and power looks like."

"Che. Whatever." The voices stopped after that.

Harry, Ron, and the rest of their dorm shared a look. What was that about? Obviously, it had something to do with the Japanese student, Yusuke, and what sounded like their headmistress, Genkai, but it was difficult to decipher the meaning behind any of this when most of the dorm occupants were half asleep when the commotion started.

Finally, Ron broke the silence. "Wanna go downstairs and see if anyone knows what happened?"

"God, yes," said Seamus, who looked surprisingly excited and alert for this early in the morning. The boys then hastily threw on some clothes and made their way down to the Common Room where, hopefully, answers could be found.

Harry and Ron were the first out the door, followed quickly by Seamus, Dean, and Neville. They had originally planned on going down to the Common Room to see if anyone else had been awakened by the shouting, but instead they headed to Yusuke’s room directly.

“Oof!” Harry exclaimed, knocking into someone.

“Harry?” a decidedly female voice questioned.

“Hermione?” Ron said, too loudly. “What are you doing up here? This is the boy’s dormitory!”

Hermione looked down with a slight tinge of embarrassment. “Well I heard all the shouting and once I figured out that it was Yusuke’s voice, I decided to go straight to the source for answers.”

Dean smirked. “And I bet, if you just happened across one of the foreigners in sleepwear, you wouldn’t complain, am I right?”

That earned him a smack from the brunette. “No!” defended Hermione. “I was merely concerned about Yusuke’s safety! It sounded as though someone had gotten hurt and I didn’t want to go to the Common Room because the gossip there is terribly unreliable and…” She trailed off as she saw the dubious looks the boys were giving her. “You guys are terrible!”

The boys just laughed in response.

“Alright, gentlemen…and lady,” said Seamus, once they had sufficiently sobered, “We should probably find Yusuke’s room so we can put this whole mess to bed.”

Ron snorted. “Yeah, and then I’m going to bed.”

Hermione glared. “No, Ronald, you can’t. We have class today. Did you forget that it’s only Thursday? The only reason we didn’t have afternoon classes yesterday, was because our guests were arriving.”

“But, Hermione,” Ron whined.

Hermione rolled her eyes in exasperation and grabbed Ron’s collar. “Come on, Ron” Hermione said as she dragged him down the hall to find Yusuke’s room. The remaining boys shared a look.

“Harry,” Neville squeaked.

“Yeah, Neville?”

“Hermione’s scary when she’s determined.”

Harry chuckled darkly. “She’s scary all the time,” he said as he went to chase after the girl and the still complaining red-head.

The group eventually caught up to Hermione and Ron and were now standing in front of Yusuke’s room.

“Go ahead, Hermione,” Ron said. “Knock.”

Hermione hesitated. “Well, what if we were wrong and he’s still asleep. It would be terribly rude of us to disturb them, especially if they happen to be jet-lagged.”

“Get-what?”

“Jet-lagged, Ronald. It’s when your body is exhausted from having to adjust to different time zones. Of course, the term usually applies to people who have just been on a very long plane ride – planes are muggle flying machines, obviously – but, they probably didn’t fly. Well, I suppose Yusuke did, but you can hardly compare his giant blue bird to a plane-“

“Hermione!” interrupted Harry. “Breathe.”

“Right.” She said, and did appear to take a few calming breaths. “The point being that this all could just be some huge misunderstanding. After all, it isn’t as though we haven’t been wrong before,” she said as she shot a pointed glare at the boys.

Harry and Ron looked down with guilt, remembering the time when they thought Snape had been trying to steal the philosopher’s stone…and when they thought he was helping Draco to open the chamber of secrets…and that he was working with Sirius Black to kill Harry. Come to think of it, they should probably stop accusing Snape of so many things. If only he wasn’t such an easy target.

On the other hand, Neville, Dean, and Seamus were confused. However, they had come to accept that confusion was a normal state to be in when you were in the company of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The semi-famous trio often forgot that there were, in fact, other people in the universe who cared about what was going on with Voldemort. Also, they were terrible at having secret conversations, but this too, can be blamed on the fact that they forgot other people existed.

Neville cleared his throat, trying to draw the focus back to the matter at hand. “So, are we going to knock, or not?”

Hermione opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, a voice sounded behind the group, followed by a slight gust of wind, because the castle apparently chose that moment to become weirdly drafty.

“And what are you lot doin’ outside o’ Yusuke’s room?” The group whirled around in horror. They had been caught.

“Whoa. Easy there, mates!” The voice, they discovered, belonged to Jin, who had apparently just emerged from his own room with Touya and was looking far too chipper for this early in the morning. It was, after all, only a little after five.

The group, for the most part, couldn’t decide whether to feel relieved or guilty and instead decided to stare blankly at the two foreign teens.

“If you’re lookin’ for a bit o’ rustle and tussle ta warm your blood, you can join ol’ Touya and me for a bit o’ fightin’. Yusuke already went out with Master Genkai, and Hiei and Kurama don’t like too much company when brawlin’ but we’re not too picky.”

Touya scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Speak for yourself,” he huffed.

“Oh don’t mind him,” Jin said with a giggle. “He’s just a little cold hearted this morning.” The giggling dissolved into full-on laughter at this point, although the Gryffindors couldn’t fathom why this was so funny.

Speaking of the supposedly brave group, they were still standing somewhat dazed trying to parse through Jin’s heavily accented speech. Thankfully, Harry had long since grown used to muddled accents having spent the better part of four years listening to Hagrid’s mildly drunken slurs.

“Umm, no. Thank you,” said Harry, referring to the offer to spar. At least, he hoped that was what Jin was offering. ‘Brawling’ didn’t exactly have the best connotation, but he remembered they were from a martial arts school, so maybe it was friendly competition. He would have to puzzle through the nuances of the Irish-Japanese (and wasn’t that a weird combo) student’s words later. There was a more important conversation going on.

“I’m sorry,” said Hermione, finally catching up to what was being said. “Did you say that Yusuke and Genkai left?”

This time Touya answered. “Yes. Genkai-shihan took Yusuke down to your sports area to refine his techniques in case he gets chosen to fight in your tournament.”

“But how did they leave so fast?” asked Dean, growing impatient with the useless dialogue. He just wanted to satisfy his curiosity and go back to sleep, breakfast be damned. He supposed this is what he got for wanting to be included in the ‘Golden Group;’ no sleep, a whole lot of clues with no payoff, and a paranoia for conspiracy that he could have lived without.

“Through the window, o’ course,” said Jin, furrowing his brow. “We would’ve done tha same, but Touya wanted ta learn some o’ the castle first. No sense in gettin’ lost jus’ because you’re used ta leavin’ through the window instead o’ the door.”

“What?” squeaked Neville, finally making himself known after quietly hiding in the background. “What do you mean the window? We’re in a tower.”

Both Jin and Touya looked confused now. What was wrong with these people?

Harry shook his head, getting sick of the charades. “Alright, even ignoring the fact that there is no possible way to survive jumping out of their window, why would Yusuke go willingly with Genkai. It sounded as though she wanted to kill him.”

Ron nodded. “Yeah, mates. The whole reason we came up here was to see if anyone had gotten hurt.”

Jin and Touya busted out laughing. Despite the fact that seeing a guy as cold as Touya doubled over in mirth was impressive, it was not the reaction the group was expecting.

“Oh, sorry, mates.” Jin finally said, still gasping for air. “It’s just that-“ He dissolved into laughter again, tears springing to his eyes.

Touya eventually managed to calm to a chuckle. “You are fools if you think that Yusuke or Genkai were permanently or even temporarily injured this morning.”

The group recoiled in the sharp sting of being insulted. They were, in fact, only fourteen, and egos were fragile things at that age.

Luckily, Jin finally regained his ability to talk. “What my frosty friend here is tryin’ ta say is that Genkai was just motivating Yusuke with a little bit o’ tough love. They are both far too powerful to be damaged by a few smacks about the head. Lord knows, Yusuke goes through more than tha’ in a single day as a detective. Besides, Yusuke is her apprentice. How she decides to encourage him is none o’ our business. Personally, I’ll turn a blind eye to almost anythin’ if it means Yusuke is stronger the next time we fight.”

Touya nudged Jin. “It’s time we left. If we don’t leave soon, the others will be done before we even have time to warm up,” a blast of frosty breeze chilled the hallway-dwellers, “figuratively speaking, of course.”

“Right,” agreed Jin, clapping his hands. “We best be off. If you ever need a workout, come and give us a holler. I could use a new opponent.” The two turned down the hallway and made their way downstairs and out into the rest of the castle.

The remaining teens exchanged dull glances, until Seamus broke the silence. “All in favor of catching a few more hours of sleep and pretending this was all a dream?” A mirthless chuckle rumbled through the group.

“Agreed.”

This was the last time Seamus, Dean, or Neville decided they wanted to be involved in Harry and friend’s affairs. Next time, they would just walk away.


	5. Motivational Speeches

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to dedicate this chapter to the show psych, which happens to have inspired my penname. The final episode was aired on March 27th. I respect psych a lot for choosing to end itself before its quality suffered, but I have followed this show since the very first episode eight years ago, and I’m going to miss it a lot.  
> Ok, I’m done with the speeches. Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 5

Harry gazed out the window as Professor McGonagall droned on about the proper way to turn a golf ball into a pinecone. He was sure that this was going to be incredibly useful later in life. However, he was equally sure that Hermione could be convinced to do the spell for him. Do wizards even play golf?

As he continued to stare blankly out at the grounds, Harry thought back to the encounter with Jin and Touya this morning. It seemed as though the more he interacted with the Reikai team, the more the questions formed in his mind. Would he ever get any answers?

His musings were interrupted by a flash of light over the Quidditch pitch and the distant booming of thunder, the trees of the Forbidden forest swaying dangerously in a gust of wind.

‘Excellent.’ Harry thought. ‘A storm is exactly what we need.’ Harry sighed and turned his attention back toward the lesson. After all, you never knew when you might find yourself in need of a pinecone in the middle of a golf course.

* * *

Yusuke dodged yet another of Genkai’s energy blasts, only to have to immediately go on the defensive as the elderly teacher launched herself at the toushin right behind the blast.

Genkai had hauled him out to the Quidditch pitch after her rude awakening and had been pummeling him ever since. It was starting to piss him off.

“Dammit!” Yusuke growled. “Why can’t you just lay off already? I think you’ve made your point!”

Another energy blast flew past Yusuke’s ear, scorching some of his hair and landing behind him with a loud boom.

Puu chirped unhelpfully from the safe distance he was watching the fight from. He may be huge, but he’s really just a big, blue chicken.

“Idiot.” Genkai said. “Obviously, you haven’t learned a damned thing if you think that you don’t have to train anymore because of your new powers. Do you think this Voldemort character is going to give a crap that you are a demon king? If anything, it will make him try harder to kill you because, from what I hear, he’s a genocidal maniac!”

Another flying kick was aimed at Yusuke’s head, causing him to be pushed back slightly from the force. He dug his heels into the Quidditch pitch’s sandy surface.

“Listen Grandma, if this Voldy-whatever even tries to come after me, it won’t even take ten percent of one blast from my spirit gun to leave a wizard-shaped burn mark on the ground.”

Genkai stilled, face turning unusually grim. “Yusuke, do you hear yourself? ‘Ten percent of your power?’ That is exactly the kind of dumbass crap that Toguro used to say and you know exactly what happened to him. He thought that because he had all that power, he was invincible.

“He didn’t bother trying to hone his skills, and keep them sharp and some young kid came along with powers that he didn’t understand and he ended up crumbling to dust in front of thousands of witnesses.

“Well, you know what, Yusuke? Like it or not, you are soon going to be facing people and challenges that you don’t fully understand, and if you don’t start listening to what I’m trying to get through your thick skull, you are going to end up exactly like Toguro did. There are only so many times you can win just by being lucky.”

Yusuke stood silently for a second, thinking over what his master just said, before running a hand through his hair with a smirk. “Whatever, you old hag. You and I both know that I kicked Toguro’s ass because of my mad skills and I’m gonna do the same to Voldemort with half the effort.”

Genkai widened her stance a bit, preparing to attack and watched as Yusuke instinctively adjusted his weight to brace for impact. Good. The kid was learning.

“Maybe.” Genkai replied, “But you haven’t been able to touch me, a poor, elderly woman, since we started this morning. Do you really think that Voldemort is going to wait for you to get over yourself before he kicks your ass?

“Face it, Yusuke. You have been relying too heavily on your strength to win your battles. Those spirit cuffs are not coming off any time soon, so you better shut up and put ‘em up, because we aren’t going to stop until you can hold your own against me without using all of your energy.”

Yusuke grinned and shifted, finally taking an offensive stance. “I’ll show you, grandma. I can kick your ass without any of my powers.”

Genkai charged another spirit blast in response. “Prove it.”

* * *

A black blur swished through the trees of the Forbidden Forest, switching from branch to branch as if the hounds of hell were after it, which wasn’t entirely inaccurate.

Hiei ran, not looking back, trying to shake his pursuer. He leaped to another branch only to be yanked backward by a vine wrapping itself around his leg. He twisted and drew his sword, slicing the plant in midair, but it was too late.

Hiei crashed to the ground, slamming his shoulder into the forest floor.

“Point for me.” Hiei scrambled to his feet, giving the new-comer a violent glare.

“This is stupid,” Hiei grumbled. “Tell me again why I decided to spar with you in the middle of a forest?”

Kurama chuckled, retracting his rose whip back into its natural form. “Maybe,” Kurama started, “it’s because your ego convinced you that you can beat me on my home turf. But Hiei,” Kurama inched closer to the fire demon, dragging the flower in his hand across Hiei’s cheek, “Your ego is writing checks that your body can’t cash.”

Hiei stared at Kurama incredulously. “Really, fox? I knew that agreeing to Kuwabara’s ‘foreign films marathons’ were a bad idea.”

“Say what you will about humans,” Kurama replied, “but they do know how to create the most fascinating narratives.”

“Whatever,” Hiei scoffed, picking his sword up from where it had fallen, “You can fan-girl over your stupid ningens later, fox. Are we going to go again or not?”

Kurama sighed, tilting his head back to stare at the forest surrounding them. Even through the dense tree growth, the two demons could still make out traces of Yusuke’s shouts filtering in from the Quidditch stadium. “You know, Hiei, if this were a movie, we wouldn’t be the main characters.”

A grunt of acknowledgment was all Kurama received in response.

“Of course, I would be the most attractive character,” Hiei snorted. “But, just because I’m clearly the most appealing one, and you would be the most empathized with –don’t give me that look, Hiei. Every story has to have a good orphan. Anyway, my point is that if this was a story, the main character would clearly be Yusuke.” Kurama turned toward Hiei, away from where he had been staring at the trees.

“Hiei, you do realize that Yusuke is the one most likely to be chosen by the goblet, don’t you?”

“What’s your point, fox?”

“Why are we here, Hiei? We could be out, having our own adventures. We could be in the Makai. There is so much more to steal, since the last time I lived there and you could play guard for Mukuro.

“My point, Hiei, is that we are essentially condemning ourselves to months of playing spectator to Yusuke, with no real benefit to ourselves. At least with the other tournaments, we all got our chance in the ring.”

Hiei placed his hand on his sword as he mulled over his friend’s words. “I’m not about to pretend I know anything about your motivations, fox, but I’m here because there is new magic here. There are things that we can learn to defeat our enemies, and they won’t see it coming.”

“Hmm,” said Kurama, “I suppose you are right. The forest alone has centuries of secrets.”

“Enough talking, Kurama.” Hiei huffed irritably. “If I wanted to talk about useless things, I would have invited the fool to come along.” Hiei held his sword up, ready for attack.

“Fair enough,” acknowledged Kurama, as he transformed a rose into his whip once more. There was a blur and Kurama leapt back as Hiei’s sword slashed through the air.

* * *

Rinku leapt back with a giggle as Kuwabara’s spirit sword slashed through the air. Kuwabara overbalanced and fell hard onto his face.

“Hey, no fair!” Kuwabara exclaimed to a still-chuckling Rinku.

Rinku twirled two of his favorite yo-yo’s in a wide arc in response. “There’s nothing unfair about dodging, Kuwabara,” the young demon replied.

“You tell ‘em, Rinku!” shouted Chuu unhelpfully from where he was watching the sparring match with Yukina. He may have been a little bitter that he lost in the ‘paper, rock, scissors’ game to determine who fought first. No amount of time could make him good at that game.

The four of them met up in the Common Room and decided to head out to the grounds and find a good place to practice their technique. Eventually, they found a clearing near the lake opposite Durmstrang’s ship. There was even a hill where Chuu and Yukina sat, watching the face-off between the childish demon and the animated teen.

“You can do it, Kazuma!” cheered Yukina from her spot next to the most-likely intoxicated Australian demon (if a demon can even be called Australian).

Kuwabara, invigorated by the support of the icy girl, scrambled to his feet with a new enthusiasm to win…only to be knocked over by Jin as he was thrown into him from where he and Touya had decided to face off.

Jin and Touya had chosen to spar on top of the lake seeing as Touya thought having to freeze his environment as well as fight would create more of a challenge and Jin wanted to work on improving his flight control. Jin had gotten blown back by a particularly powerful ice blast directly into Kuwabara’s path, causing the trees of the nearby forest to sway dangerously.

“Ow! No fair!” Kuwabara shouted for the second time as he raised himself off the ground somewhat hesitantly in case anything else decided to run into him today.

Jin dusted himself off from where he had fallen and turned toward the smug ice demon who was making his way toward the group across the frozen lake. “That was a right good hit there, Frozone.”

Touya glared at Jin and then at Kuwabara. “I knew that the ‘American movie marathons’ were a bad idea.”

Kuwabara, however, was still grumbling about his role as a human bowling pin. “What is this? ‘Push Kuwabara Over’ Day?”

Rinku grinned. “To be fair, Kuwabara, you are quite the push-over.” The remaining four demons laughed at that while the red-headed teen grew red.

“Hey, you little squirt! Take that back!” Rinku stuck out his tongue. “What if I don’t want to?”

“Fine!” Kuwabara huffed. “But it’s still not true.”

“Speaking of the untrue,” started Touya, who was the first to recover from the giggle-fest at Kuwabara’s expense, “Jin and I ran into the supposed ‘Famous Trio’ and friends this morning. They were snooping around, thinking that Yusuke was being murdered or something to that effect.”

It was Kuwabara’s turn to laugh. “They thought that Yusuke was being hurt by Genkai? Ha! As if that hard head of his could be damaged by anything she ever laid on him!”

“Oh dear.” Yukina said, “I hope you set them straight. It would be terrible for them to think that Genkai had abused Yusuke.”

“Now, don’t you worry your pretty little head, Yukina. O’ Course we did.” replied Jin. “We even invited them to fight with us, but they said somethin’ about having to go to class. Can you believe tha’? Apparently school is more important than learnin’ how ta defend yourself properly.”

“It is indeed quite ridiculous,” agreed Touya. “But we need to be careful. The girl in the group was sharp. It is possible that she will look further into our identity as a school.”

The group took a minute to contemplate this statement.

“Alright. Enough with worryin’ about things we can’t deal with right away,” said Chuu, dismissively. “I, for one, would much rather spend this morning throwing punches rather than throwing around ‘what ifs.’ What do ya say to makin’ this a melee fight, excepting the Sheila of course?” Chuu nodded toward Yukina. “Winner takes all.”

Kuwabara straightened and called upon his spirit sword once more. “I’m in.”

The rest of the males took fighting stances as well.

“Ready, set, go.”

The first fist was thrown, and they were off.

* * *

“Sicus coniferous.” Harry sighed. His golf ball was looking decidedly un-pineconeish. Was that a word? Either way, the most he could get it to do was turn a muddled shade of brown.

Hermione, on the other hand had turned hers into a pinecone on her third try and was now working steadily though the essay they were assigned for homework.

Ugh. This was stupid. Harry looked around at his classmates and saw tons of golf balls in various stages of transformation, except for Neville’s. He was still having trouble with the pronunciation.

“Psychis Conference.”

To everyone’s surprise, especially Professor McGonagall’s, the golf ball transformed into a ripe pineapple.

“Well,” the Professor started, “this is most unusual. However, nothing exploded and you’ve managed to do something I haven’t seen before. Five points to Gryffindor.”

Neville blushed and smiled a little at the reward, before managing to knock the fruit to the floor which smashed it against the ground.

‘Well,’ Harry thought, ‘as much as the new guests disrupted the natural order, some things will never change.’


	6. Anticipation and Overreaction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter I have posted on fanfiction.net. Any further chapters will be added as I finish them.

Chapter 6

  
It was nighttime and try as she might, Yukina could not fall asleep. The little ice demon was certainly tired. All the training the boys had done had worn her out. She may have only been a spectator, but worrying about her friends was, in her humble opinion, just as exhausting as actually fighting.

  
She tried counting sheep, which only made her have to stifle a giggle because then she started imagining Kazuma chasing those sheep and trying to capture one to bring to her. He was so silly sometimes.

  
She sighed and rolled over, listening to the even breathing of the girls she was sharing a dorm with. It was so nice of the school to provide rooms for them. Yukina knew that Hiei was concerned about her staying with strangers instead of with the rest of the group, but he had nothing to worry about. The Gryffindor girls had been nothing but nice to her. Honestly, Hiei could be so overprotective sometimes.

  
Yukina frowned. Thinking about Hiei’s protectiveness caused her to think about her brother. She had pretty much abandoned hope of ever finding him. He was either dead or didn’t want to be found. However, that didn’t mean she didn’t feel the loss of her other half like a gaping wound or loss of a limb. She had never even laid eyes on him, but he was still a part of her.

  
At least now, she had built a family around her. They may not be her blood, but she owed them her life. If it wasn’t for Yusuke, Kurama, Kazuma, and even Hiei, she would still be in Tarukane’s greedy clutches or maybe even dead. She was free because of them and she intended to pay them back tenfold.

  
Since she first set foot outside captivity, Yukina had resolved to become stronger. She was going to become strong enough to protect her saviors, even if she couldn’t do it physically. They may not know it, but they all craved someone to help bear the heavy load set upon their shoulders and Yukina hoped to be that person.

  
She was going to be their grounding force in the world, especially for Hiei.

  
Kurama was well-adjusted enough, seeing as he was the oldest of all of them and had centuries of experience coping with life, even if he didn’t consciously remember it. Yusuke had Genkai to keep him centered, and Kazuma was ironically the most emotionally strong in the group. Jin, Touya, Chuu, and Rinku all supported each other in one way or another.

  
Hiei, however, had no one and he was the most fragile of them all. There was so much pain and loss coming from him that she could almost see it radiating from his fiery core. If she couldn’t be there for her brother, then she could at least offer protection to Hiei, even if he didn’t think he needed it.

  
Yukina shifted again, trying to calm her anxious thoughts. All this worrying was going to cause some serious frown lines. Unfortunately, she just couldn’t shake the feeling that this new tournament was going to bring on events much darker than the group had ever encountered.

  
A sounded swished by her window and she tensed. Closing her eyes, Yukina evened her breath and tried to pretend she was sleeping. She lay completely still for a moment, then slowly opened her eyes a crack to try to catch a glimpse of the threat.

  
She let out a sigh of relief. It was only Hiei. He appeared to be perching on the windowsill, stoically guarding her from the monsters in the dark, while sacrificing his own need for sleep.

  
Yukina closed her eyes, feeling relaxed in the presence of her silent protector and she finally drifted off to sleep.

* * *

  
Halloween morning emerged damp and gloomy. The promised rain from the day before had finally erupted into fierce downpour drenching everything in its cold grasp. Ironically, the nasty weather couldn’t dampen the young wizards’ enthusiasm because today was the day. The champions of the Multi-wizard Tournament were going to be named and the anticipation could not be higher.

  
“I’m telling you! Fred and George are definitely up to something.” Ron said as he and Harry made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Hermione had already eaten and was curled up in a corner of the Common Room reading some kind of thousand-page nightmare when the pair trudged downstairs. They wisely left her alone.

  
“Honestly, Ron,” Harry replied, “you always think they are up to something.”

  
“Because they usually are!” Ron said, slightly defensive. “Look mate, all I’m saying is that I overheard them discussing the age line around the Goblet of Fire and something about a new project they were working on. Tell me that’s not suspicious!”

  
“Maybe,” Harry conceded, “but Dumbledore put that line down himself. Anything they try is not going to work.”

  
They sat down, having reached their table and started immediately piling food onto their plate. Harry had to admit that Hogwarts had spoiled him with the amount of food always available. He would probably have ended up as fat as Dudley if he didn’t have to walk up and down so many flights of stairs every day.

  
The doors to the Great Hall banged open, distracting the two from any other speculations on the twins’ activities. Yusuke stalked over to the table, dripping wet and looking like he wanted to murder Kuwabara who was trailing after him along with the rest of the group – except for Chuu and Rinku who were still sleeping, true to their lush and teenage images respectively. The remaining Rekai group took seats around the Gryffindor table and looked for all the world like spectators to a good tennis match.

  
“Hey, come on Urameshi! It was an accident!” Kuwabara called, but he couldn’t erase the smirk off his face.

  
Yusuke glared at him again with more ferocity, but still only ended up looking like a wet kitten.

  
“Like hell it was,” Yusuke growled. “You pushed me out the window! Into the rain! Do you know how freaking long it is gonna take me to dry my hair?”

  
This time Kurama stepped in and tried to intervene. “Yusuke,” he started, “Hiei did offer to help you.”

  
“Yeah,” Yusuke snorted, “Like I’m really going to let that pyromaniac near my hair. Last time we were sparring he tried to deliberately light it on fire!”

  
“You looked cold,” Hiei smirked.

  
“Why, you little-“

  
Yusuke jumped to take a swipe at Hiei only to be stopped by Jin.

  
“Now, now Urameshi. There be no need for blows. If ya really wan’ your hair all dried up, I can lend a hand.” A draft swished through the Hall, causing Harry and Ron to shiver, and Yusuke to pale.

  
“Um, no. Tha-that’s ok. I really don’t need any help,” Yusuke started backing away. He had absolutely no desire to be caught in Jin’s version of a hair-dryer/wind tunnel.  
Jin looked hurt. “It’ll only take but a second!”

  
Yusuke continued to shake his head and was looking around for an escape.

  
“Really I don’t need-“

  
“Oof!” Yusuke, in his attempts to avoid the wind demon had backed straight into Fred and George Weasley.

  
“Sorry!” Yusuke hurriedly apologized.

  
The twins just shook their heads.

  
“No worries mate,” Fred said.

  
“We were just passing through.” George said.

  
“Yup.” Fred said, moving to hide something that looked suspiciously like an empty potions vial behind his back.

  
George took his brother’s arm and led him toward the front of the Great Hall where the Goblet of Fire rested in the final hours before choosing its champions.

  
Ron narrowed his eyes. “They’re up to something. I know it.”

  
“Hey, Ron,” Kurama asked, turning his attention away from Yusuke and Kuwabara, “aren’t your brotheres too young to enter the Tournament?”

  
“Yeah,” Ron said, “and they were really cheesed off about it, too. Kept going on and on about the age line and how they were only short a couple of months and- oh no!”

  
Boom!

  
Just as Ron finished his sentence, there was a bright light and a sound like thunder that came from the Goblet. The twins were thrown back with an intense force and ended up somewhere by the doors.

  
The reaction from the Rekai team was almost instantaneous.

  
A frosty wind flew into the Hall and Jin was suddenly hovering a few feet above the Gryffindor table, his fist slowly turning in a circle. Touya and Kuwabara had summoned some kind of ice sword and glowing sword respectively, and Hiei had drawn a real sword out from under his cloak and held it at the ready, while subtly moving in front of Yukina to shield her from the blast. Kurama had reached to his hair and pulled out…a rose?

  
Yusuke’s reaction was perhaps the most curious. Where everyone else, had drawn their weapons, he stood stock still and looked as if he was in an internal battle with himself. He didn’t even seem to notice his soaked hair anymore and if anything, his black mane was starting to frizz and grow wild.

  
Harry blinked and rubbed his eyes. He could have sworn that Yusuke’s skin had flickered with blue markings. Clearly he needed more sleep.

  
“What the hell is going on here?”

  
Harry and Ron yelped as Genkai seemingly appeared behind them for a second time in as many days. Did she always do that?

  
“Um,” Ron stammered, “Fred and George were trying to put their names into the Goblet and-“

  
“Stop.” Genkai said. “I wasn’t talking to you. Any fool with eyes could see what happened to the Wonder Twins. Those are your brothers, right?”

  
Ron paled. “Er, yeah, but I didn’t know-“

  
Genkai cut him off again with a wave of her hand. “Go, take them to the Hospital Wing.”

  
Ron scrambled to obey her orders. Someday, Harry wished his words could command as much respect. Surprisingly, Yukina stepped forward and made to go help Ron, only to be stopped by Hiei.

  
Yukina turned and fixed a glare at Hiei. Harry didn’t even know Yukina _could_ glare. She seemed so nice.

  
“Let me go, Hiei,” she said. “They need my help.” Surprisingly, Hiei did let her go and watched her intently as she ran to help Ron carry the twins out of the Great Hall.

  
Harry turned back toward where Genkai was glaring at the rest of her students.

  
“All of you stand down!” she said. “Jin, stop hovering. Hiei, Kuwabara, and Touya put your swords away. You know better than to draw your weapons with innocents around.”

Harry watched as the red-head floated down to the ground, looking sheepish, while the other three dissipated their weapons, or in Hiei’s case, hid it beneath his cloak. Was it wrong that Harry was now doubly scared of Hiei, now that Harry knew he was always armed?

  
“Urameshi!” Genkai said, turning he attention to the last of her students.

  
Yusuke gave no response. He was still staring blankly, but now he had begun to shake. Was he alright?

  
“Yusuke!” Genkai shouted, reaching up to grab his arm. Yusuke did move, then, reaching to grab Genkai’s arm and use it to throw the martial arts master across the room.

Harry gasped, as she twisted in mid-air to crouch against the wall she was aimed at and then dropped to the floor seemingly unfazed. Was this real life? Was his scar conjuring up weird dreams to screw with him?

  
Yusuke, on the other hand, seemed to be coming out of his dream-like state, blinking as if trying to orient himself to his surroundings.

  
“Welcome back, Urameshi,” Genkai said, walking back toward him. Was she insane? Yusuke just attacked her!

  
Yusuke, instead of continuing to assault his teacher, ran a hand through his hair, grimacing as it came back damp.

  
“Yeah. Thanks,” he said. What? What did she do that needed thanks?

  
Genkai, barely nodded and then gestured out to the windows.

  
“Let’s go,” she said. “We’ve got a lot to work on.”

  
Rather than complain about the rain that was still coming down in sheets, Yusuke nodded and followed Genkai out the door of the Great Hall, and presumably out toward the grounds.

  
Just then, the other teachers arrived, led by McGonagall and Snape.

  
“What happened here?” McGonagall’s sharp voice demanded.

  
Harry started to open his mouth to explain, only to be held back by Kurama’s hand on his shoulder.

  
“It’s a little difficult to explain,” Kurama said.

  
Harry snorted. Biggest understatement of the year.


	7. Finding a Purpose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: A huge thank you goes out to everyone who subscribed, left kudos, and commented on this story. You guys were the main reason that I managed to drag myself from the endless cycle of studying and work to continue this story. Enjoy!

"So are you going to tell me what happened?"

Yusuke turned his head to the side and spat blood and rain water before leveling a cautious glare at his mentor.

"I don't wanna talk about it," he said after a beat and raised his fists to once again prepare for an onslaught of attacks from Genkai.

They had been at this for hours. As soon as they left the Great Hall, they had headed to the Forest. Genkai had started her assault on Yusuke as soon as they were away from witnesses and had been going strong ever since.

Yusuke dodged a kick to the ear and retaliated with a controlled blast of his rei gun. Being a half-demon had done wonders for his Spirit Power control.

Another swipe dodged and another rei gun fired, only this time, it was flecked with the red of his demon energy. A tree where Genkai's head had been seconds before exploded, sending shards of wood flying in every direction.

Unfortunately, his new form left his Demon Energy practically unchecked.

"Dammit!" Yusuke shouted. At this rate, he was going to make a new clearing. He swiped his hand through his wet mess of a mane and shifted to a defensive stance, only to see that Genkai had lowered her fists and had taken a seat on the ground.

"Come on, old lady! Tired already?"

Genkai said nothing, but instead pulled out a cigarette from her robes and somehow managed to light it in the rain.

Yusuke growled. The fight was not over, dammit! He still had issues to work out!

He raised a foot, intending to kick Genkai back to her feet, but was stopped short by her hand. Genkai grabbed his foot, and without a second thought, twisted until Yusuke was sprawled on the ground on his stomach.

A few mumbled words and a complicated gesture from the elderly psychic and Yusuke found himself unable to raise himself from the ground.

The half-demon struggled against the binding force, trying to kick his feet and throwing his fists at the dirt. However, the spell Genkai placed on him held strong against his attempts at freedom.

"Dammit!"

Genkai gave Yusuke an unimpressed look and knelt back down in the mud just out of reach of his still flailing fists.

"Are you done throwing your tantrums, yet?" Genkai asked after a while, when his struggles finally died down and he had finally calmed himself enough, to not want to kill everyone within a fifty mile range just to get free.

"Do you know why I told Koenma to offer you this mission?"

Yusuke turned to look at his mentor, shock clearly evident on his face.

"Don't look at me like that, Yusuke," Genkai said. "You didn't really think that Koenma was eager to send you on another Spirit World Mission so soon after his father tried to kill you?

"No. I asked Koenma to put you here because you needed to be reminded of your humanity."

"What are you talking about?" Yusuke growled.

Genkai narrowed her eyes. "I wish you could see yourself now. The old you would have put you down like the demon you are!"

"Shut up, old woman!" Yusuke snarled, once again renewing his struggle against her magic.

Genkai gave him a look of exasperation. "Do you really not see it, Yusuke? Ever since you got back from the Makai, your instinct has been to kill first and question later. You reach for your demon power first, instead of your spirit energy."

Genkai's expression turned grim and she moved away from Yusuke to take a drag from her cigarette. The rain had finally started to let up and only a few drops managed to pick their way through the thick underbrush of the forest.

"If you truly can't see what's happening to you, than this is where we part ways. I never intended to teach my techniques to a ruthless demon and I certainly won't start now." Genkai started to walk away.

"Hey!" Yusuke called. "Don't leave me here! Let me go!"

Genkai paused. "I was never holding you to begin with Yusuke. That binding spell only restrains large amounts of demon energy. If you can manage to reign in that part of you, the spell won't have any reason to bind you." She continued walking only to pause one final time.

"The world doesn't need another monster, Urameshi. It needs a champion. You are at a crossroads. Choose your path, and choose your allies. But, Yusuke, once you make your choice, be prepared to face your enemies." Genkai disappeared, presumably to the castle, leaving Yusuke to consider her words carefully and attempt to gain control of his fluctuating energy.

Yusuke snarled as Genkai left him alone in the woods, still fused to ground by Genkai's damned spell.

That old hag didn't know what she was talking about. Being half-demon didn't ruin him. If anything, it made him stronger! Having all this power meant that no one dare to challenge him – at least not anyone who wasn't looking to die.

This was what he had fought and trained for, wasn't it? He wanted to become strong enough to take on any enemy that crossed his path. Being half-demon only ensured that nobody could take him down. No one dared to attack him, or his friends, anymore.

As Yusuke kicked the ground and silently fumed at his master's dismissal, he started to think more and more about Genkai's words. Why did she even train him if he wasn't supposed to get faster and more deadly? She made him into what he is today. She gave him what he needed to unlock his potential and now Genkai was disappointed that he achieved such strength. What did she expect? What did she want from him?

Yusuke thought back to when he first started this spirit detective business. He had been so young, so naïve. All he wanted was to kick some demon ass and maybe save the day a few times. Back then he had never even dreamed that he could be this strong or that people would follow him and look up to him.

When Genkai offered to train him in the aftermath of the Rando incident, all he could think of was that she could give him what he needed to prevent guys like Rando from ever hurting his friends like that again.

Everything stemmed from his need to protect those he cared about. Hadn't he thrown his supposed one chance at revival all those years ago into the fire to save Keiko? Eventually, his protection extended toward Kuwabara, and then Kurama, and Hiei (although they hardly needed his protection now).

When had he lost sight of that? Was Genkai right? Had he truly lost himself in the pursuit of power and strength?

Yusuke let out a deep breath and let the tension and anger bleed out of him. As he became calm, he found that he could move again, but it took a few minutes, before Yusuke managed to raise himself off the ground and to his feet.

He felt terrible. Looking back at his time in the Makai, Yusuke realized that in all that time, he never once questioned what he was training for. Sure, he had entertained the idea of entering the Makai tournament again, but even if he won he didn't really have a plan.

The only thing he thought about was getting stronger, and faster, and more lethal. Why?

A rustle in the trees behind him, made Yusuke tense, but it soon revealed itself to be Puu, edging his way into the clearing to greet him.

Yusuke sighed and relaxed his stance in front of perhaps the only being that would ever truly understand him.

"Hey boy," he said, extending a hand out toward Puu, who looked at the hand and then brushed it away in favor of laying his huge head on Yusuke's.

"Ow! Hey!" Yusuke grumbled, throwing him off. "You aren't exactly the size of a Furby anymore, you know."

Puu cooed at his master and kept trying to nudge his beak toward any part of Yusuke he could reach.

"Alright already! I get it. I'm not sulking anymore, ok?"

Puu hummed and bent his head in agreement.

Yusuke sighed again. He must be pretty emotionally conflicted if Puu thought he needed to cheer him up. The last time Puu had come to comfort him had been when he had been dying and- yeah- not going there again.

He shook his head and turned to stare at Puu, an idea forming in his head.

"Hey boy," Yusuke started. Puu's head popped up from where it was sniffing what looked like a rabbit hole "You wanna for a ride?"

The reaction was instantaneous. Yusuke barely had time to register the sight of the huge phoenix barreling toward him before he was thrown onto Puu's back with a well-placed head-butt.

"Whoa!" Yusuke scrambled to find a place to hold on and then they were in the air, crashing through a layer of trees and vines before emerging above the Forest and gliding toward the lake.

Yusuke let out a whoop of excitement as he found purchase on the big blue beast and finally took in the sights. The view was…magical.

Maybe Yusuke did have a lot of things to think about, but for now, he was content to float among the stars, looking down at the rest of the earth like the King he could have been.

For a long time, Yusuke sat back on his spirit animal, content to let Puu take him wherever he wanted. It was a win-win situation. Puu got to stretch his wings and Yusuke could just enjoy the wind on his face and the rain, which was now a gentle mist, to wash away conflicts of his mind and body.

If asked, Yusuke couldn't say how long exactly he had been up there. Eventually, the sun had drawn low toward the ground and had started to flush with the reds and purples of dusk.

Either way, eventually he decided he should probably head back to the castle at least to eat, when a voice suddenly sounded in his mind, causing him to jump and make an irritated Puu dip dangerously in surprise.

_Urameshi!_

_'_ _Dammit, Hiei. You know I hate it when you shout in my mind like that.'_ Yusuke sent back, and he really, really did. Stupid Jagan eye, with its stupid, mysterious psychic powers.

_'_ _What do you want?'_

_Sorry, Your Highness, but the fox wants you to head back to castle. Everyone is gathering in the Great Hall to announce the Champions._

Yusuke could practically feel the sarcasm and irritation at having to bother with the message coming off the demon in waves. Kurama totally had him whipped.

' _Yeah, yeah. I'm coming.'_ He sent back.

_You may want to hurry._ Yusuke could definitely feel the smirk now, which probably meant he had a lot less time to get there than the fire demon had let on.

Yusuke tugged on Puu's mane to get his attention.

"Hey, buddy. I have to get back to the Dining Hall. Do you think that you could drop me at a nearby window, or something?" He could use a door, but windows were so much faster. Plus, he always felt like a ninja, slinking silently through the open glass panes.

Puu screeched in agreement as he once again took off, heading back toward the castle far more swiftly and gracefully than a twenty-some foot bird should be able to manage.

As Puu flew closer and closer to the castle, Yusuke started to notice that the bird seemed to be following a couple of owls who were going back toward the castle as well.

Do birds even know how to stop and ask for directions? Yusuke started to giggle, but quickly stifled it as the owls they were following took a sharp left and darted in through a nearby window and Puu shifted his wings to make the same turn.

"Hey, you big blue idiot," Yusuke shouted with a tinge of fear. Death by castle was not exactly something to look forward to. "Remember what I said about not being the size of Furby? Now would be a really great time to remember that!"

Puu merely screeched again and completed his turn, diving toward the window.

Yusuke closed his eyes and held his breath and…nothing.

Peeking one eye open, Yusuke saw that they had emerged through what seemed to be an expanding window above the Great Hall where hundreds of owls were darting in and out of the windows above to drop what looked like letters and packages off to the students.

Puu was now hovering above the tables, his great wings blowing out some of the hovering candles (which eventually re-lit themselves).

"Hey!" Yusuke said. "You better not be thinking about doing what I think you are-"

Too late.

Puu barked what was probably the bird-equivalent of a laugh and lunged into a barrel-roll, throwing Yusuke off his back and to the floor before quickly darting back the way he came, through the magic window, narrowly dodging a quick spirit blast from the fuming detective.

Yusuke huffed and stared as the window Puu escaped from shrunk back to a reasonable size. He didn't think he would ever get used to magic.

As he turned to find a seat at the table, he noticed that almost everyone had abandoned their dinner in favor of staring at him.

"What are you looking at?" he glared menacingly. Ok, he may have also raised his spiritual pressure a little for intimidation. Hey, it worked on _Bleach,_ didn't it?

Most of them returned to their food, heads down in fear, and he ignored the rest as he sought out his teammates. 


End file.
